The Page Protects
by armabeddons
Summary: Apollo sent a raven to guard his beloved, Coronis. One day, the raven returned with bad news: Coronis had fallen in love with another. The raven was rewarded for its loyalty with joining the sky as a constellation by the name of Corvus.


**The Page Protects**

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_Summary: Apollo sent a raven to guard his beloved, Coronis. One day, the raven returned with bad news: Coronis had fallen in love with another. The raven was rewarded for it's loyalty with joining the sky as a constellation by the name of Corvus._

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It was the one thing that he coveted most.

There was nothing greater than having someone there. Someone to care and to care for. Someone to love and to have love back. Someone to wish to see every day in every waking hour and to know that this someone would stay by you even when the blackest of nights fell.

Stars and planets. Dreams and games. Nothing would ever compare to the raven haired wonder watching the stars above only a foot away as he had decided. He watched the stars twinkle and gleam against the darkening sky. But all you could do was watch him. The stars held no interest in you. Your star was right here. Of course he can't know this. How stupid of you to hope and to care and to love.

How stupid of you to think that he hoped and cared and loved you to the same extent. The _grass_ shows more compassion than him! You weave your fingers between the soft blades of grass which you assume to be as deep a green as the eyes of the boy admiring the stars next to you. It was not a question of what color his eyes are since you know them so well. The happy, excited green orbs of them always bright, always ready for adventure. It was really a question of the grass being able to match those beautiful green orbs. Can they? On a nice spring day when this grass was healthy like it was that day they could, you thought.

"Aye, Strider, are you alright?" There they were again. Those perfect green eyes focused on you focused on them. What did you do? You pointed to the sky at the raven among the stars; one of the only ones you knew by heart. Even the story stayed in your mind since you first learned about it.

"Corvus, the Raven," you pointed to the stars that create the constellation and you wondered to yourself if somehow English was the raven sent to you to guard you from evils by some far off admirer. For a moment the idea tickled you until you realized that if this was true then surely you'd never have English; he'd just be a messager. Maybe he'd have to go back if you even thought of looking at someone else the way you find yourself looking at him. Maybe he was already about to.

Glancing back he was standing and brushing himself off. Was he going, leaving to tell that far off admirer (who for the record, you don't care for) that you were somehow unfaithful to them when you didn't even know who they were? You know English and for the life of you, you could never imagine a world without him. To hell with that far off admirer, you can and will live without them.

You stood as well just to be safe and he gave you a funny look but only for a moment before laughter erupted like a volcano spewing lava. The laughter was warm and you hoped―you hoped―it was not as violent as lava because then you'd be in trouble.

"I'd think you'd have trouble seeing those stars through those ridiculous shades of yours," he pauses. "What were you pointing at anyway?" He questions. His eyes widened with curiosity and you let out a sigh of relief when you realize that he was not leaving after all. He really was not. Why can't it be like this all the time? You knew that he was _not_ going to leave, not at this moment, not unless you do something wrong.

"..." Your mouth opened to tell the story of Corvus but then you're not so sure any more. It could be the wrong thing to say so instead you state, "nevermind," and leave it at that. You watch the gears turn behind those perfect eyes and wonder what he could be thinking.

For a guy without dark shades to hide his thoughts he was still pretty good at just that. If only you could have seen what was going on behind those eyes you might have had a better response than to stand dumbfounded for a moment too long (which provoked his lava laughter) when in that flawless Australian accent he asked if you'd like to "take a stroll, mate."

After he was done laughing you somehow manage a nod and start toward the trail marked by the river. At the last second, he grabbed you by the arm to pull you toward the unmarked woods. It was pretty dark and you stumbled a little bit but you didn't let that stop the flutter in your chest when your eyes met briefly and English demanded animatedly that "we should go on an adventure, Strider. A real adventure." You didn't decline, how could you really when all that you wanted was to actually woo this boy dragging you off for the dark, ominous woods

So here you are, scrapped, bruised, and already sore from falling over roots in the dark. You know that English has done the same but he certainly doesn't show it. You think that the two of you may be lost just as the boy ahead of you disappears and you don't know that he's disappeared into a clearing. All that you know is that he's no longer in front of you and you hate to admit it but you only made it out this far in the dark because you could see him ahead of you.

"English?" Dave maybe, would have noticed the amount of alarm in your voice; probably would have frowned upon it, but to English you must sound the same. Of course if he managed to see your eyes now he would know. He would know everything, right down to the lonely nights when you can't get yourself to fall asleep in any way other than to cry over could-have-beens between the two of you. Maybe you should let him see them, you think, then he'd care too...but that's no guarantee that he will love you so you don't want to risk it because he'd know too much and every moment with him would cause greater suffering than they already do.

"Yo, English, where the hell'd you go?" If possible, you think you sound more worried.

"Right 'ere, Strider," movement nearby catches your sensitive eyes and you can imagine his mess of dark hair popping up behind a tree. The star light or the moon light (you're not sure which) reflects off of his glasses and makes his eyes shine brighter than ever. He watches you stumble a moment longer before he disappears again, and you guess you disappear into the clearing too because right before you is this immense expanse. You can't see it well but you can feel the new feeling of emptiness both surrounding you and setting you free. It's hard to resist the urge to run around the perimeter or to fold yourself into a ball and let the emptiness fill you.

Suddenly he's next to you―right next to you―though he had to have been standing there before. It's more that you have just suddenly _noticed_ his presence. You think that even if you can't have him, this moment, this place, with him only inches away can be your shared moment, your shared place. You'll remember, you'll love, you'll hope, and you'll care even if he can't.

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**A/N: Well my long "no posting" break is over though it really shouldn't have even been there in the first place. Also, this is only a oneshot and I won't be continuing it so I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**PS. Just to get this out (and I've been wanting to do this for a long time), I'm an active Beta Reader now! :D**


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